Knitting machine



K March 25, 1930. F. J. MOLONEY 1,751,940

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 31, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 25, 1930.

F. J. MOLONEY KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 51, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented Mar. 25, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK II. MOLONEY, OF SOU'IH MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO HOWARD E. PAGE, OF BELMONT, MASSACHUSETTS KNITTING MACHINE Application filed December a1, 1928. Serial No. 329,377.

This invention relates to improved pattern forming mechanism for knitting machines, more especially circular machines for knitting hosiery and the like, such machines be- 5 ing designed for continuous rotary movement of the needle cylinder and also for reciprocation of the cylinder, as when forming heels and toes. It is an object of the invention to provide a pattern wheel which will operate selectively on certain needles as the cylinder rotates, to cause some of the needles to tuck and others to stitch, the needles selected in one revolution of the needle cylinder being in general different from those selected in succeeding revolutions, whereby various patterns may be formed in the knitted article. It is another object of the invention to provide a pattern wheel which will operate successfully with fine gauge needles such as are usually employed in the knitting of hosiery. Needles for such purposes are usually of 54, 48 or 36 gauges and are set closely together in the machine. It is another object of the invention to synchronize the rotation of the pattern wheel and the needle cylinder by causing the wheel to engage the cylinder directly in such a way as to be driven thereby in either direction. Various other advantageous features of structure Wlll be apparent to one skilled in the art from the disclosure of the invention in the following description and in the drawings, of which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a circular knitting niachine, showing my improved pattern wheel attached thereto, some of the minor parts of the machine being omitted.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view of a portion of Figure 1, shown on a larger scale, this view being develo ed on a section indicated by the line 22 0 Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an elevation of a pattern wheel embodying the invention.

.5 Figure 5 is a fragmentary elevation on a larger scale of the inner face of the wheel illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a section on line 66 of Fig-,

ure 3.

0 Figure 7 is a diagrammatic representation of the needle moving cams showing a pattern wheel in its relation thereto.

Figure 8 is an elevation of a pattern wheel showing its action on needle butts presented thereto.

F igure-9 is a fragmentary section of the needle cylinder showing a needle which has been raised by a pattern wheel.

Figure 10 is a similar view showing a needle which has been received in a peripheral slot of a pattern wheel and has not been raised.

Referring to the figures in detail, Figure 1 represents in plan view a circular hosiery knitting machine of a well known and widely used variety. Among the parts shown in the figures are a needle cylinder 20 and yarn feed guides 21. To these and the other well known parts of the machine are added, according to the present invention, a pattern wheel 22 and an auxiliary yarn feed guide 23. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the pattern wheel is in the general form of a disk which is supported adjacent to the external surface of the needle cylinder 20. The wheel may be supported by any suitable means, a

lock 24 being illustrated which may be secured to the cam supporting ring 25 as by suitable screws 26, 27 As shown these screws permit adjustment of the block 24 toward and from the needle cylinder; The block may be provided with a vertical slot 28 in which a screw 29 is adjustably movable, this screw entering an axle block 30 on a portion of which the wheel 22 turns. By loosening the screw 29, the wheel may thus be adjusted vertically, so that the same block may be used as a support for wheels of different diameters. The Wheel itself is provided on its inner face with a number of teeth 31 which extend radially and project from the inner face ofthe wheel. These teeth are adapted to mesh with longitudinal slots 32 which are customarily formed in the outer surface of the needle cylinder 20, these slots being for the purpose of holding individual needles. By reason of the inclination of the wheel 22 illustrated in Figure 3, the outer end corners of the teeth enter more deeply into the slots 32 than the inner end corners of the teeth so that in spite of the fact thatthe needle cylinder rotates on one axis and the pattern wheel 22 rotates on a different axis, the teeth 31 mesh successfully with the slots 32 so that the pattern Wheel is driven directly by the motion of the needle cylinder. This ensures correct synchronism between the wheel and cylinder so that successive courses of knitting always hear the correct relation to each other, this relation being undisturbed by the reciprocatory operation of the cylinder whenknib ting heels and toes.

.The periphery of the pattern wheel is notched as shown, for example, in Figures 4 and 5. The notches 33 may be cut at any point or points in the periphery of the wheel, according to the pattern desired in the knit product. Figure 5 shows a portion of the periphery of the wheel on which some of the needles are to be raised by engagement with uncut rim portions 34 of the wheel, the butts of the other needles being received in the slots 33 as they pass the wheel without being raised. This action is clearly illustrated in Figure 8. The notches may be cut to receive the butts of any desired number of succ'essive needles. The uncut rim portions 34 may also be of any desired length according to the pattern to be made. It is.

obvious that the notches 33 and the uncut portions 34 must be formed approximately in multiples of the angular distance between centers of successive teeth 31. In order to avoid selection of the same needles by the pattern wheel on each revolution of the cylinder, which would limit the patterns to parallel lines, the pattern wheel 22 is preferably made in such sizes, that the number of slots 32 in the cylinder will not be an exact multiple of the number of teeth 31 on the pattern wheel. In this way the notches 33 may be made to receive the butts of different needles on successive revolutions of the needle cylinder and a great variety of patterns may be formed. Pattern Wheels of difierent sizes may be made for the production of difierent pattern effects in conjunction with the distribution of slots 33 in the peripheries. These wheels are quickly and -moving cams of the knitting machine is diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 7 In this figure the usual stitch cams are indicated, these cams being adapted for reciprocatory operation of the cylinder. The usual guard cam 36 is also indicated. 'A pair of auxiliary cams 37, 38 may be supplied to ensure that the needles will reach the pattern wheel at the correct height, that is, adjacent to the upper rim of the wheel, as indicated by the dotted-lines. When the needles reach the wheel 22 the but 39 of each needle is either received by a notch 33 which permits the needle to pass the wheel without being raised, or is picked up on the rim of the wheel and is raised sufliciently, as shown in Figure 9, to lift the latch of the needle above the yarn Y. Figure 10 illustrates a needle which is received by a notch 33, the yarn remaining on the latch so that when the needle is lowered to knit, it fails to throw ofi the loop. After passing the wheel 22, the needles are supplied with a supplementary yarn by the feed guide 23 whereupon they engage an auxiliary stitching cam 40 which causes them to knit or to tuck according asthey have been raised or not by the wheel 22. As indicated in Figure 1, mechanism generally inauxiliary stitching cam 40 in and out of operative position. These mechanisms for shift ing the auxiliary yarn feed and. stitching cam are controlled by suitable cams in a manner well known in the art. The auxiliary cam 40 is automatically thrown out of operative position whenever the cylinder is reciprocated so as to avoid interference with the needle butts during the reverse motion of the cylinder. Since the pattern wheel is at all times in mesh with the needle cylinder, it is obvious that the pattern relations will not be disturbed during the knitting of a heel, so that the pattern which is automatically interrupted when the heel is started,

heel is finished and the circular motion is resumed to knit the foot of the sockor stocking.

Having thus described an embodiment of this invention, it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made therein without departing from its spirit or scope as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine having a needle-cylinder and needles, a pattern wheel consisting of a single disk adapted to engage and selectively raise said needles, said Wheel having gear teeth projecting from the plane of one of'its faces and directly meshing with said cylinder.

2. In a circular knitting-machine having a needle-cylinder and needles with butts, a pattern wheel mounted adjacent to said needle cylinder, said wheel having a notched peripheral portion in the path of the needle butts whereby said needles are selectively raised, and teeth on and projecting axially wheel having gear teeth on a face thereof meshing with the slots of the cylinder, said wheel also having notches in the peripheral portion thereof to selectively receive the butts of some, of said needles whereby the selected needles passthe wheel without being raised.

5. In a circular knitting machine having a slotted needle cylinder and needles with butts, a pattern wheel having teeth on and projecting axially from a face thereof and adaptedto mesh operatively with the slots of said cylinder, said wheel having notches in the peripheral portion thereof to selectively receive some of said needle butts whereby the selected needles pass the wheel without being raised, and adjustable means for supporting the wheel and adapted to support wheels of different diameters in operative relation to said cylinder and needles.

6. In a circular knitting machine, a slotted needle-cylinder, needles having butts, a cam ring having reciprocatory stitching cams, a yarn feed guide associated with said cams,

auxiliary stitching cams on the opposite side of the cylinder from said reciprocatory cams, an auxiliary yarn feed guide associated with said auxiliary cams, and a pattern wheel between said reciprocatory cams and said auxiliary cams, said pattern wheel having gear said wheel having notches in the peripheral portion thereof and teeth projecting from the plane of one of the faces thereof.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

FRANK J. MOLONEY. 

